Crews inspecting over 1600 miles of pipe to locate source of water outage

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Ohio (WDTN) - Several communities across Montgomery County are reporting a disruption to their water service.

Dayton officials say that a partial water system outage is affecting thousands of customers in northen Dayton and Montgomery County.

Crews have been working in the field, checking water valves along major distribution lines and at river crossings to determine where the break and/or leak is located.

Officials say that It is highly possible, due to the amount of water being lost, that the break and/or leak is at a river crossing; however, crews continue to systematically check major lines and river crossing in an attempt to isolate the location of the break.

Crews are continuing the process of inspecting over 1600 miles of pipe within the total distribution system to identify and isolate the location of the leak. These crews will remain in the field until that time. Once located, distribution crews will devise a plan for repair. 6/8

They also say that because the river is at a very high level due to recent rain events and moving swiftly, it's likely a break at this location would not be seen.

The City’s system has three pressure zones: super high, high, and low. The part of the system impacted is the high pressure zone, which includes the northeast, northwest, southeast city of Dayton and upper southeast part of the County system.

At this time both of the City’s water plants are pumping at increased capacity to bring the water system and elevated tanks back into service; however, the areas of the system that have been isolated to help track down the leak will still be out of water. Crews are continuing the process of inspecting over 1,600 miles of pipe within the total distribution system to identify and isolate the location of the leak.

These crews will remain in the field until that time. Once located, distribution crews will devise a plan for repair.

The outage began between 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Officials are asking affected customers to conserve water as much as possible and to avoid using water while the system is undergoing evaluation.

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley says that the issue appears to be an underground leak or break in a water line, and that crews are working to find exactly where the issue is located.

Nan Whaley speaks on water outage

The Fire Department says that they have contingency plans in plans for situations such as this one and their vehicles are equipped with "extra devices" to address any issues that may arise.

Around 8:18 p.m., the Dayton Water Department issued a boil advisory for all customers consuming water. Customers are asked to boil their water for at least 30 seconds, and to conserve water use when possible.

It should be noted that the following cities within the County which have their own water systems are not impacted by the precautionary boil water advisory: Cities of Oakwood, Huber Heights, Vandalia, Englewood, Miamisburg, and West Carrollton.

Officials with the City of Dayton say there are no known contaminants in the water at this time but they are asking everyone to take precautionary measures.

The Butler Township Police Department says that the county is aware of the issue and is working to restore service, adding that the Water Department's phone lines are so overloaded at the moment that residents will likely not get through.

According to Vandalia's Communications Manager, Rich Hopkins, there is also a widespread outage in Vandalia that is impacting homes south of I-70.

Staff with the Dayton Water Department are working at the Miami Water Treatment Plant and in the field to determine the cause and restore services as soon as possible.

There is no word yet on when service will be restored.

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First and foremost, Chief Biehl is encouraging residents to stay away from the downtown area where the rally is taking place. Instead, he says, consider attending one of the many other community events taking place Saturday that are meant to highlight Dayton’s true sense of identity.